Now on Stage

WHEN CLASSICS INSTRUCTOR Paul Christesen '88 signed up for the Dartmouth Faculty Voice Group in the fall of 2002, he had just begun teaching Classical Studies 1, a huge survey course that typically enrolls between 150 and 275 students. "I felt that I lacked the skills to make myself properly heard," Christesen says. "In addition, it became apparent to me that teaching in a large classroom partook of theater, so the prospect of learning voice techniques for actors seemed ideal."

Christesen says he "expected some fairly straightforward voice lessons." When he and 10 other faculty participants found themselves imitating cats and other animals in 301 Wilson Hall, following the lead of instructor James G. Rice, adjectives other than straight forward came to mind.

Using a technique called "freeing the natural voice," Rice guides participants through a series of acting exercises developed by his mentor, Columbia University theater professor Kristin Linklater. Rice, who has led a Faculty Voice Group every fall and spring term since September 2001, acknowledged that many in his sessions initially find the acting element of the 90-minute classes confounding. "There is some surprise and an adjustment that they make," says Rice, a popular visiting theater professor in his eighth year at Dartmouth. "It's not that they're coming to theater class, but it's through theater-inspired activities and exercises that participants learn very quickly that their growth will come through self-observation."

Much of this self-observation focus- es on breathing techniques and learning to identify and dispel sources of tension that may affect ones ability to breathe and, consequently, to speak effectively. "I was surprised at how important learning to breathe and relax ended up being," says history professor Cecilia Gaposchkin. "Many of the exercises James had us do had nothing overtly to do with talk, but more preparing the rest of our bodies and minds to talk effectively." The animal noises are just a warm-up.

While tackling a fear of public speak- ing is one of the groups goals, Rice thinks it's equally important to give faculty participants, like actors, the tools they need to engage their audience. "Often a faculty person will come because they feel they just aren't connecting with their students," says Rice, a profes- sional actor for more than 25 years and a long-time member of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. "They look out at the sea of faces and there's just a lack of connection; something is not happening that everyone wants to have happen."

Christesen noticed that something was happening in his classroom even be- fore the eight-week group concluded: "I found that after about five weeks I felt no- ticeably more comfortable in the large class, achieving not only more volume, but also expressing myself with more nuance and modulation. Above and beyond the voice lessons, James is a great teacher, and I learned quite a bit about pedagogy from him and shamelessly copied some of the things he does in class." Bonnie Barber